JoJo's Circus

All Music Guide:

Already one of the most popular family and children's film companies, Disney entered the music industry in 1949 with the formation of the Walt Disney Music Company, which published the music from the studio's films, beginning with the following year's Cinderella. In the '50s, Disney also developed their own music labels, including Disneyland Records, which offered Disney soundtracks, stories and songs from The Mickey Mouse Club, and Buena Vista, which released songs by Disney stars such as Fess Parker, Annette Funicello and Darlene Gillespie, as well as singles from the studio's films. In 1989, Disney consolidated the various imprints into one label, Walt Disney Records, which reissued classic soundtracks and released read-a-long and sing-a-long collections, compilations of old and new Disney songs and soundtracks to new Disney films, many of which were multi-platinum successes such as The Lion King, Beauty & The Beast, Aladdin and The Little Mermaid.

Wikipedia:

JoJo's Circus is a musical comedy series for preschool children. The series debuted in 2003 and airs in the United States on the Disney Channel as part of the Playhouse Disney morning programming schedule at 6am eastern time. The program airs daily on both the UK and Australian versions of Playhouse Disney using the original American content. Since 2005, JoJo's Circus has been shown on GMTV's children's weekend slot Toonattik. As of June 17, 2011, it has been confirmed that it will move into its new home Disney Junior, which will replace the soon-to-be defunct channel SOAPnet. JoJo's circus will again be on Disney Junior on March 23, 2012.

Concept

The series stars JoJo Tickle ; a six-year-old, female clown ; and her fellow residents of Circus Town, a self-sufficient city whose cultural center is the "Big Top" tent. The show stresses simple, everyday lessons such as playing with others, personal hygiene, responsibility, and safety. Also paramount is the show's focus on exercise: JoJo often asks for audience participation (such as clapping, jumping, and stretching) for the viewers. It features songs music by Jeffrey Zahn and Jim Latham and lyrics done by Judy Rothman. The series is animated in Claymation, which is a serious departure to Jinkin's previous animated works.

Characters JoJo and her pet lion, Goliath, re-appeared in a exercise learning series/interstitial called Feeling Good with JoJo.

Episodes

Season 1 (2003-2004)

Season 2 (2004-2006)

Season 3 (2006-2007)

Special Episodes

Recurring themes

JoJo's Circus relies on repetition in its structure. Each segment always begins with JoJo searching for her pet lion Goliath who is always hiding. JoJo then is presented with the situation that will occupy the theme of the show. A song, usually about the resolution of the situation, is then sung by JoJo.

At the conclusion of each episode, a secondary character asks, "What did you learn today, JoJo?", and before she can reply, JoJo is whisked away for the finale, the "spotlight moment." JoJo is then placed on a makeshift stage, while the "Spotlight Moment" song plays, asking what she's learned, is sung. Subsequently, JoJo explains what she has learned in the course of the episode.

Characters

Major characters

JoJo, the main character of the show, is an inquisitive and active six-year-old clown whose parents are famous circus clowns. She's kind-hearted, has a great sense of humor, boundless curiosity, and excitement about life; and she loves to clown around.

Goliath is a four-year-old lion that attends school just like JoJo. He's also part of the Tickle family. Because of his playfulness, he hides from JoJo in the beginning of each episode.

Skeebo, known as the class clown, is JoJo's best friend, and attends school with her and the other circus kids. Skeebo's eager to make people laugh by testing new jokes, slight gags, and tricks...that sometimes don't work. Skeebo has a pet dog named Harpo.

Croaky, the great leaper of the group, met JoJo on the first day of school, when they realized they had different abilities and agreed to help each other learn different tricks.

Trina is a ballet dancing, tightrope walker. She comes across as abrupt and snobbish on occasion, but apologizes for her mistakes when she becomes aware of them.

Mr. Tickle — JoJo's dad and Peaches's husband — is a jolly clown who often blasts off to work in a cannon.

Peaches is JoJo's mom and Mr. Tickle's wife. She is a tall, skinny clown who is full of sunshine and is often makes goodies for her family and Circus Town residents. She's klutzy by nature, but a good juggler and sometimes catches 15 objects in the air when she accidentally trips.

She's JoJo's teacher and the big top ringmaster. A warm and encouraging teacher, Mrs. Kersplatski gives the circus kids a strong sense of mastery and confidence, with her combination of hard work and play. In the second season, she married Mr. Muscles and became Maya's stepmother. She is very clumsy and after she trips, her catchphrase is "I'm OK!"

Following characters

Dinky is a sweet and frisky elephant. While Dinky may be clumsy and somewhat oafish, when he dances, he turns into "Mr. Graceful."

Tater is one of the two kids in the Spudinski clan. His sleepy potato nature seems to be the antithesis to the "get up and go" feel of the show, but sometimes he can't help but join in the fun. In the second season, he has a 1 year old baby sister named Small Fry.

Balboa is a contortionist snake with a talent for making number and letter shapes. Balboa also has a knack for troublemaking. He thinks it's fun to coax JoJo and others into doing what they are not supposed to do, and the kids are sometimes susceptible to Balboa's charms.

Also called the Flying Froginis, the two Russian-accented brothers are expert jumpers and trapeze artists. Fellini and Federico are uncle and father, respectively, to Croaky.

He's the circus strong man and a physical education instructor. He knows a lot of exercises that he teaches to those in Circus Town. He has a daughter named Maya and recently married Mrs. Kersplatski, but it's not known whether he was divorced or widowed.

Maya is the daughter of Mr. Muscles and stepdaughter of Mrs. Kersplatski. She's fairly new to both Circus Town and JoJo's class. She has red hair, and can be shy at times but loves to get up and go.

Other Characters

Skeebo's mother, she is Circus Town's only doctor and Fire Chief Seltzer's wife. Though she's not in many episodes, her most notable appearance is in the episode "A Case of the Sillies."

He's Skeebo's father and the chief of the local fire department in Circus Town.

Tater's parents, who have the same sleepy nature as he does. It's revealed in "The Thanksgiving Hip-Hooray Parade" episode that Tater calls his father "Daddy Spud."

Small Fry is Tater's baby sister and one of the two kids in the Spudinski clan. She first appeared in the episode "Hi There, Small Fry!"

Dinky's mother; she's also been referred to as Mrs. Elephant.

She's Circus Town's pretzel and ice cream shop vendor. JoJo and her friends sometimes go to her ice cream parlor for a snack. JoJo taught Babalulu how to make pretzel twists in the episode "A New Twist."

Jumberto is a rabbit magician whose tricks rarely work.

Terrific is a famous tiger tamer in Circus Town. He has a tiger named Tippoo.

A farmer and JoJo's uncle, Uncle Flippy owns a farm on the outskirts of Circus Town. On the episode entitled "Uncle Flippy's Funny Farm," JoJo and everyone in Circus Town helped him after a giant pie creamed his farm. Strangely, he has a pet tiger.

Known for making balloon animals, Ballooney Baloney can make any animal shaped balloons with his hands. He has a grandson named Bailey.

Cotton Andy is a cotton candy vendor whose cotton candy machine is named "Whoopsabelle" and was also a priest for the wedding episode "A Circus Town Wedding."

Charlie is one of JoJo's cousins whom the Tickles sometimes babysit.

JoJo's grandparents, both of them were experts on clowning around before JoJo was born. Their famous act is the "Silly Shoe Shuffle," which Granny Tickle passed the act to both JoJo and Goliath.

Terracotta is the little girl who looks like a flower pot, and she bought JoJo's silly skates in the "Too Many Toys" episode.

She's JoJo's royal cousin who lives in Really Royal Land. She looks like JoJo and has a pet lion named Hercules who looks just like Goliath. She appeared in the episode "Princess for a Day," where she and JoJo decide that it would be fun to trade places.

Ballooney Baloney's grandson. Bailey Ballooney normally attends Small Top Hills School and only visited JoJo's class on Valentine's Day. JoJo comes up with a special way to make him a valentine in the episode "My Clowny Valentine."

Music

Every episode contains a short tune dealing with the topics of the episode. (Many of these songs can be found on three CDs: Songs from JoJo's Circus, Songs from Under the Big Top!, and Playhouse Disney: Imagine and Learn with Music.) The genres of the songs range from doo-wop to funk to rock to early punk. Phrases like "stretch your arms" and "jump up high" are common lyrics. Most of the songs are educational — telling kids how to bow, stretch, greet people, wash their hair, and clean up after themselves — while a few are more entertaining, such as Cotton Candy Sure Is Sweet or The Gum Drop Song. The theme song of the show is performed by the band Becky.

DVD releases

The series has two DVD releases: "Take a Bow" and "Animal a Go-Go." The "Take a Bow" DVD contains the "Easy As Pie," "Take a Bow," "JoJo on the Tightrope," and "Happy Hoppy Day" episodes. "Animal a Go-Go" has "Flower Shower," "Uncle Flippy's Funny Farm," "Try These on for Boing," and "Brushing Up." Both DVDs have the opening theme, JoJo and Goliath in interstitials, printable coloring pages, and other bonus features.

Two more JoJo's Circus episodes are available on Higglytown Heroes DVDs: "The Spudinski's New Act" is on Higglytown's "Heroes on the Move" DVD, and "A Clown Ride" is on the Higglytown "To the Rescue" disc. The holiday themed "A Circus Town Christmas" is included on the "A Very Playhouse Disney Holiday" DVD.